passing
by paired discontinuity
Summary: They aren't alive anymore, but being undead is better than nothing. Hibiki was a normal girl until she decided to see one of Zwei Wing's concerts. As for Zwei Wing...well, they hadn't been normal for a long time.
1. Ashen Feathers

_**A/N:** Another random thing for the day! An unusual crossover from an unusual team! For the Tale in Fragments challenge (Anime/Manga version), prompt flight, here is our FMA/Symphogear crossover for you all to enjoy. Have fun!_

* * *

 **1\. Ashen Feathers**

Tsubasa had never liked much about herself. All she saw were weak bird limbs and big eyes and timid sparks and none of this was anything worth celebrating. Kanade celebrated her, however. Every day, every minute they were near each other, she would smile and laugh and make the world as bright as the blood she coughed up in the evenings when she thought no one was looking.

They were not sure, or rather, Ryoko-san was uncertain about, why Kanade's body was constantly in rejection of what it was. Kanade herself didn't seem to care.

Tsubasa did. At first it had been because of the Noise, the creatures she barely had the urge to fight by herself. But now it was because the flutter from her empty chest.

She had some humanity in her somewhere, in that half of her that wasn't ripping up things and burning up from the grit of her body.

If Kanade went away, would the fluttering go as well?

Neither could happen. Neither would. They would stop fighting and that would settle it. The step they took today would be enough.

if they succeeded tonight, they would be free, so free.

And if they failed…

Tsubasa would not lose her Kanade. The Noise would be ripped apart carbon by carbon with her nails if she had to.

"Tsubasa!"

She pretended to be surprised by the sudden hug from behind that had always been a little too tight. "Kanade."

"Set up's over." Such a happy chirp. Red hair tickled her cheeks. It made her heart thump. "Come on, time to get going. We're the main attraction."

Tsubasa felt her hands tremble. This would work. It _had to_ work.

They were Zwei Wing, after all.

* * *

Was it too late to leave?

Hibiki had never been good at big, social things like this. She liked her niches, her nests. Those were enough. This wasn't a nest, this was the big open sky and her wings were still tiny.

"Miku…" she murmured with a sigh. She understood that if a family member got hurt, they needed to be there to check up on them, to make sure they were okay. Something like that made sense. Of course, that didn't mean she wanted _Miku_ to have to go too. It would have been better to distract her with the concert and she could call them after it was over. But that was a selfish thought. She couldn't force her friend to do something like that.

Now Hibiki couldn't back out either because she was already in line and the tickets had been paid for and everything. Nothing left to do but get some glow sticks and find a seat.

It could be fun! It _was_ going to be fun! It was her first concert!

Hibiki slapped her cheeks. "That's right, this is gonna be great! I'll get to tell Miku all about it when I get back!"

Such a big and crowded concert hall could only mean one thing at a time like this: fun.

Her eyes caught a glimpse of the two idols on a banner. They widened, excitement beginning to bubble over. "They're really pretty." Now she had to see them on stage.

By the time Hibiki had found her seat, most of the seats were full. She beamed at nothing and sat back, listening to excited whispering and people already starting to cheer. Then the lights dimmed and Hibiki hurried to fiddle with a glowstick.

Show time.


	2. Spider Saving

**_A/N:_** _Hihi! I'm here with the second chapter…which was initially stubborn but then ran away from me. Whoops? This time the prompt is reason. Enjoy!_

* * *

 **2\. Spider Saving**

Kanade took a deep breath and her body shuddered. It couldn't keep up with her. It never could. But she didn't regret the choice she'd made: the monster in human skin she'd become –

Heck, as far as she was concerned, she was no monster at all. And as far as everyone who _mattered_ was concerned as well because they were protecting people and they were cute and they _cared_ …

Not that most people knew the truth. Their fans, flocking like moths to a flame: their flame. She had all sorts of jokes, black humour that caused Tsubasa to frown with her lips twitching and the Commander to just shake his head… But everyone had their way of coping with things and black humour was hers. Like those fans, those moths, coming to monsters like them. If they were cannibals, they'd all be gobbled up. Finite. No fans. Which was actually rather depressing once that clicked...

The spider on the other hand was kind of true. They were bait, drawing in the fans, using them – even to fuel themselves, which wasn't a bad thing at all because humans did much worse to other humans every day. It wasn't even an unfair exchange. They sung harder because the fans were there, watching and cheering, and the fans watched and cheered to hear them sing harder. It was a fair trade, an _equivalent_ trade.

Their lives revolved around innumerable such trades.

And the trade she made to burst out her song was the shuddering of her body: was the life slowly sloughed off each time.

And they all knew it. Tsubasa knew it, and there was a part of her who fretted because of it. Kanade's forced grin relaxed into a smoother smile. Somehow, Tsubasa fretting always managed to relax her, or distract her.

It was a trade but it was also a battle, and Amou Kanade did not lose.

She took another deep breath. The light fell on them. She grabbed Tsubasa's fingers. Their fingers intertwined.

The song began.

* * *

They appeared on the stage: Zwei Wing, dressed in their pale dresses and looking even more beautiful in life than they did in the posters. For a moment, Hibiki forgot to breathe – and then she scolded herself. It was silly; she'd seen Zwei Wing before, though not in person. They were the staples of their school: their pride and joy. No student at Lydian Private Music Academy could not know who Zwei Wing was…

And, sitting in the stands with strangers and clutching the glowing glow stick in her lap, she could kind of see the mystique the encircled the pair. That sort of image that made people come to watch them, instead of just listening to their voices on CDs and the radio. It really did give a different view: not like seeing them glossy on a poster at all.

And when they started singing, it wasn't like listening to them over the inaudible scratches from the CD. There was something pure. Something unadulterated. Something breathtaking.

And it certainly did steal her breath when the beauty became, instead, unadulterated terror.

* * *

It was easy to lose themselves. So easy, that they almost forgot their ulterior motive.

But the Noise hadn't forgotten. They swarmed: mindless husks following the glow of light, and it was they, singing, that emitted the light. Alarms blared: alarms disguised as show lights so it was only Tsubasa and Kanade who realised, who looked up –

But the subterfuge was unnecessary. The show fell apart before they could even grasp it. Tsubasa narrowed her eyes. Kanade bared her fangs. Both of them saw the first fan disappear.

They exchanged glances, and at once reached for the stone that marred their core.

 _No more._

Their song changed. Their tones reached a sharp pitch almost seamlessly. The recording continued. The screams began to spread like a ripple – a ripple in a sea of screaming people. This was Zwei Wing's true concert. A concert of death and screams until their voices cut through, until their weapons cut through…

Numerous people fell, vanished. Tsubasa's sword cut through the Noise. Kanade hefted her lance.

She was angry. She was burning with anger. Like always she sung her loudest, her fiercest and it was even more important today because of what they sung for. But the Noise had smelt the prize as well. Smelt the souls rising. _Greedy bastards._

Her song turned into almost a scream as she swung the lance.

The Noise crumbled. _Take that!_ But the crowd thinned as well and it didn't take Kanade long to fell the stings of her fading song, and that fading crowd.

That was a time she could accept she was a monster. Only monsters failed to save.

She would save at least one of them.


	3. The Cross Borne

_A/N: For the prompt, kaput._

* * *

 **3\. The Cross Borne**

Hibiki bolted over the back of her chair, orange-gold eyes going wide with fear. Her body was too in shock to tremble. The creatures dashed towards her, feet flapping as they slammed on the debris. Hibiki trembled. People were screaming and ash flew in the sky.

She needed to run. Her fingers clenched harder into the fabric of the seat. Then the ground began to tremble and the side by her feet slid down. She squeaked in alarm, clinging to the plush for dear life. When the ground steadied, she sighed in relief.

"Hey!"

Hibiki started, at the sound of the rough voice and the shock of passion red hair. That was… from Zwei Wing. She was talking to her. That was…

"Run," Kanade shouted, then spun on her heel to block a stab at her chest.

Hibiki jolted and made to do so, only for another tremor to rock the remaining auditorium and sent her spinning, falling forward and hitting the ground. She whimpered in pain, struggling up through the blood and stinging in her knees. She collapsed and pushed up by her hands. _I don't want to die. I don't want to die. Don't want to. Help me..._

Someone's shadow fell over her. "Hey, are you okay?"

Amou Kanade was back again, her gloved fingers shaking with exhaustion and blood-red eyes glowing ever brighter, peered over her. Then she turned and stabbed a Noise.

"Can you stand up?"

She was asking questions too fast for Hibiki to actually answer. Her head throbbed between her eyes.

"I-I" Her resulting words turned into a scream as a red spear shot towards the older girl. Kanade spun, blocking the blow and skidding back. As more attacks aimed for them, the spear began to crack and shudder. Shrapnel flew and pain struck Hibiki in the heart. She collapsed, and felt her own blood seeping into her clothes. Oh, she thought distantly. Mom liked this outfit.

The last thing she heard was Kanade's desperate words and something like a song.

"Live! Don't give up!"

Right… she had to live… for, for who?

She thought of Miku and her warm smile, and tried to struggle to her feet.

* * *

Kanade grimaced, glancing around for Tsubasa. They had gotten separated. This was never a good thing, though it didn't happen often either. Calling out to her would be dangerous. It'd turn even more of those bastards- she swore in pain and swung. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the girl trying to move through the stab wound in her chest. Tsubasa would have screamed if she had seen that. Kanade, however, only smiled. There was a way to save her. There was a way to save one person. It was just gonna hurt like hell.

She pretended she wasn't crying.

Kanade planted her spear into the ground, as if to use it as a mic. Then, in a song opposing everything she ever seemed to be, she began to sing her own solo.


	4. Final Solo

_A/N: Prompt this time is illegal. Enjoy!_

* * *

 **4\. Final Solo**

Solos sucked. They didn't grab the world - but, sometimes, the world was too big to grab into her hands.

She was greed and proud of it. But she'd failed, this time. She was failing, and that's why she had to sing her solo now, to save at least one person from it all, to make it worth something...

All selfish reasons, and she'd been proud to be that selfish because she got to sing to the world and how great was that? And she got to fight the Noise and save people, even if it was a selfish reason at the base of it all.

But she could see the fruits this time. Spoilt fruits scattered around, and the only moving things the Noise that devoured the fallen bodies and Tsubasa, far away and swinging her long sword.

And the girl twitching through the wound in her chest, knocking on truth's Gate.

Oh yeah. She was going to save her. She could see it in her eyes. Someone special. And the desire to bring people together.

She didn't even know this girl, her fan, but she liked her. And she wasn't going to sacrifice what she liked.

Hey... what's your name?

But she was already singing her solo song and it was too late to ask. Her energy was bleeding out: the red that wasn't blood but her lifestream nonetheless. The final magic she could do; the last song she could sing.

It didn't matter that she wasn't human anymore.

Actually, it did. It meant she could do it when they'd fail.

And this was the perfect way to go. Not giving up on life. Passing it on.

Hey. She'll be living in a new body now. A younger, stronger one who didn't have to be drunk up on Linker to fight the world. That actually sounded great. And they'd be together forever.

Who cared if it broke the laws of the world? They were already outside the law.

So why was it a solo song? Why was she crying? Why did she want Tsubasa to hold her one more time?

Could even a monster like her find human love?

But she couldn't think that now. She would only falter. She, the epitome of greed, couldn't falter, because she could never settle for not saving everything. This concert was a stain. A black, black stain and now it was red as well, the red that bled out of her, into the other girl.

The Noise were falling back. Finally.

That girl better have the potential she thought or it was all for naught.

Because she didn't want to die. She wanted to live, and sing, forever.

It was for that she sung her final, solo, song.

* * *

The song devoured her senses. For a moment, all that was there was the red - Kanade's hair? - and that song, sad and begging for another chance at life, in her ears.

And then she felt hands take hers, and guide them.

Was she an angel now? Taking her to heaven?

Oh, but her mother always said to not follow strangers.

But she was too tired to pull away...

Her eyes slipped. The song dulled as Kanade's unsinging voice snapped in her ears. 'Focus! Don't give up on your life!'

 _Don't give up_ , she repeated to herself.

Her fingers drew a circle, and a note inside, with her blood. She couldn't see what she was doing, or why, but Kanade was there, leading her, so it had to be okay. Kanade didn't want her to die. That had to be a good thing. That had to be a promise.

 _Miku, I'm going to have a long story to tell you..._

Miku smiled. Or maybe it was Kanade. She was getting reality and her memories all muddled up. And then it was definitely Kanade, turning away to greet someone else. Someone as tall as her - Tsubasa? - but Hibiki couldn't make out any more. Not even her own pain.

She felt her chest. The blood was gone as well.

'Hi,' said the voice. Androgenous. Not Tsubasa then. Maybe a doctor? 'Welcome to Truth.'

Truth? Had she gone sleepwalking then? Or followed some mass hallucination? Or had she wound up dying after all? Oh dear...


	5. Sterile and Dark

For the prompt - knock

* * *

 **5\. Sterile and Dark**

Hibiki awoke and it was dark. She had rather forgotten how to open her eyes while dying for a while. It was very strange. They felt gummy and sticky and wet. But she could feel and she felt slender fingers on hers, soft and warm and still clenching tight at her ring and pinky figures.

She dozed off with the feel of those fingers on hers.

When she woke again, she could taste dryness in her mouth and hear voices outside. There was also an eerily loud, steady breathing sound. Her throat caught.

Miku. Her sunshine spot. She was here.

That meant she, Hibiki, was alive. How?She had been hit right in the chest.

 _Don't ever give up on living!_

Her eyes shot open and her chest hurt like a giant bruise. Her orange eyes managed to travel about the room until she saw the familiar white ribbon, ragged from days without washing. Hibiki's eyes watered and then she was asleep again.

Where were her parents, she wondered. Their daughter was in the hospital, shouldn't they be here? Fretting, being brave? Her papa was brave, he should be here.

'Mine are long gone and I hate it,' whispered her dreams. For reasons she couldn't understand, Hibiki shuddered.

* * *

Watching his niece practice made Genjuuro very grateful he had banned live weapons during training practice. Otherwise he would have had to replace his sandbag five times at this point, five more than normal anyway. Regardless, her bokuto was close to snapping.

He was very glad he had banned her from motorcycles as well.

He saw her tears falling as she swung and swung, as she pretended they weren't there, as she pretended the death would have not happened when she opened her eyes and her best friend would be hugging her from behind and teasing her for being a crybaby and-

It wasn't going to happen.

It couldn't. The Superb Song had done its work and saved one at the cost of another.

Tachibana Hibiki, as of today, had been awake for six hours solid. It was true consciousness. Everything was checking out healthy, as healthy as being skewered alive could. All but for the mark on her wound and the strange dilution of her irises in color.

Genjuuro watched and waited to tell Tsubasa the truth.

It would likely shatter her anyway, but he would let her grieve a little longer.

* * *

A partial success.

Well, in theory. It would have been nice to keep them both alive a while longer, or kill them both. That would send the government into a frenzy. But in the end, dreams were not realities simply by dreaming about them.

She knew that very well. A partial success would be enough until she took some time to analyze. Then they could move forward. God was waiting and though he was patient, the human race could not afford to be.


	6. Here we Substitute

For the prompt - curious

* * *

 **6\. Here we Substitute**

She could stay awake longer now. And it meant the world wasn't slipping by in a dream. Miku was there first, and Hibiki happily threw her arms over the other and wondered if she'd managed to grow up a little when asleep. Miku just laughed and said the question was flaky as she could expect from her.

Oh well. She had plenty of time to grow when awake. And it probably made more sense to do that, anyway.

* * *

Tsubasa knew. There was something behind the scenes, something nobody wanted to tell her. Or maybe Genjuuro did. The way his dark eyes followed her. The way he watched over her, watched her train until it went far beyond training and into the mind-numbing oblivion of repetition she saught. But that never lasted. The bokutos couldn't handle her strength, her agony, for long. They'd snap and jolt her out of unawareness, and then she'd have to start the whole process again.

And when the new blisters on her palms burst open and her fingers wouldn't straighten and too many muscles to count burned, she'd stop and sleep until it was bearable enough to ignore and then start again.

One day, she'd have to stop, because Kanade wasn't going to come back and there were things to do: Noise to fight, songs to sing - but she couldn't scream now. Just scream and cry and she did both of those things.

And everybody let her. They were elsewhere occupied and she didn't care so long as they left her to their grief.

Until she learned of their guest, anyway. That changed things.

* * *

Kanade died for her? She was small, weak-looking - almost waif-like and delicate and the smile on her face was so flimsy looking a tapered glare could knock it right off.

She wasn't worth Kanade. She was nowhere near Kanade. _She wanted Kanade back!_

* * *

She wasn't perfect. But she'd do, for now.


End file.
